Alcohol Experiments on Driving-Related Behavior: A Review of the 1972–1973 Literature–Alcohol Countermeasures Literature Review

Perrine, M. W. · 1974 · ROSA P / United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This 1974 report by M. W. Perrine reviews experimental literature from 1972–1973 regarding the effects of alcohol on driving-related behavior. The study was commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to critically evaluate how alcohol impairs behavioral variables relevant to successful driving performance. While it is universally accepted that alcohol influences driving, there is limited consensus on the specific nature and scope of these effects. The review aims to identify which aspects of behavior are impaired by alcohol, thereby increasing crash likelihood, and to assess current research trends, needs, and priorities in highway safety. The methodology involved a selective review of laboratory experiments and part-task simulator studies published between January 1972 and December 1973. The author excluded studies involving non-healthy subjects, those where alcohol was not the primary drug, and those not focused on immediate driving behaviors. From 132 identified titles, approximately 30 experimental reports and 16 review articles were selected for inclusion based on merit, relevance, and experimental adequacy. The review synthesizes findings from various sources, including the Vermont Symposium on Alcohol, Drugs, and Driving, and analyzes a taxonomy of performance developed by Levine et al. (1973), which categorized tasks into cognitive, psychomotor, and perceptual-sensory domains. Key findings indicate that alcohol significantly impairs information processing, particularly selective attention and perceptual-sensory tasks. Levine et al.’s analysis revealed that perceptual-sensory tasks were the most impaired by alcohol, followed by cognitive tasks, with psychomotor tasks showing the least impairment. The extent of impairment depended on time parameters; performance deteriorated more rapidly in testing periods under one hour, and the greatest impact occurred when testing began an hour or more after alcohol administration. Specific studies, such as those by Moskowitz and Burns, demonstrated that alcohol causes greater response impairment in tasks requiring complex information processing compared to simple motor reactions. However, on overlearned tasks with high stimulus-response compatibility, alcohol did not differentially impair processing time based on information load. The review also highlights that epidemiologic data suggest the driver is responsible for at least 85% of crashes, with nearly half of errors attributed to perceptual-attentional failures. The significance of this review lies in its identification of critical gaps in highway safety research. It concludes that while laboratory experiments provide evidence of impairment, there is a lack of controlled studies observing alcohol’s influence on real-world driving behavior. The report emphasizes the need for standardized research methodologies, including consistent subject populations, dosage administration, and performance indices like accuracy and speed. It advocates for integrated, parametric studies to better understand the interaction between dosage, time, and task complexity. Ultimately, the review underscores that targeting attentional-perceptual impairments offers the greatest potential for developing countermeasures to reduce alcohol-related highway crashes.

Key finding

Perceptual-sensory tasks, particularly those requiring selective attention, appear to be most impaired by alcohol, while psychomotor tasks are least affected.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• alcohol
• polydrug
• drowsy as impairment
• dui enforcement
• cognitive capacity variation
• illicit drugs

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
• Methodological Resource: validation psychometrics
• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model